Congress bags Banaskantha, wins first Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat after 10 years

In a significant political statement in Gujarat, Congress candidate Geniben Thakor has won the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in North Gujarat with a margin of around 30,000 votes defeating BJP’s Rekhaben Chaudhary in a closely-fought contest.

Noticeably, Congress has won a Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat after ten years. BJP leaders and workers in Gujarat are in a state of shock as the party won all 26 seats in Gujarat in 2014 and 2019, and was hoping to repeat its performance for the third time. Gujarat BJP President CR Paatil had set an ambitious target of winning all 26 seats with a margin of more than 5 lakh votes each.

However, BJP’s dream of snatching a hat-trick win in its home state has been denied by Geniben Thakor, a former MLA from Vav constituency who had defeated BJP stalwart Shankar Choudhary in 2017. But she lost in the 2022 state polls to the BJP after the Aam Aadmi Party bagged a considerable number of anti-BJP votes.

Geniben crowdfunded her campaign

Thakor hails from a lower-income family of Banaskantha, a district known for its milk cooperative. In fact, Thakor released a video at the beginning of the poll campaign last month seeking donations, and crowdfunded her election campaign.

“She even received donations as less as ₹2 from the people of her Banaskantha. She is hugely popular, especially amongst women in Banaskantha,” says Kiranbhai Thakor, a Congress worker from Banaskantha.

Highest voter turnout in Gujarat 

Banaskantha, a seat where two women candidates faced each other, saw a higher percentage of voter turnout than the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While all seats in Gujarat saw around 40 per cent or less voter turnout which is considerably less than in 2019, only Banaskantha recorded around 53 per cent voting. The higher turnout was thanks to the women voters of Banaskantha who out-numbered men in this election.

The BJP left no stone unturned in its campaign in Banaskantha and had roped in the party’s star campaigner Modi, who in his election rally in Banaskantha had said, “Beware, the Congress will snatch your bhains (buffaloes). If a household has two buffaloes, the Congress will take away one if it wins the Lok Sabha elections.”

Banaskantha has been a BJP stronghold since 2014. In 2019, BJP’s Parbatbhai Patel won the seat defeating Congress’s Parthi Bhatol by a margin of 3,68,000 votes.

Early trends showed that the Congress was leading in four seats in Gujarat, but eventually Geniben Thakor emerged as the lone winner from her party.